More Esoteric Symbols

Our final miscellany of esoteric symbols contains glyphs from a variety of Western traditions. The Rosicrucian Rose Cross, Egyptian Eye of Horus, mathematical lemniscate, ancient spiral, Christian ichthys and the Celtic Triquetra are all depicted and discussed here.

The Rose Cross is a momentous symbol in the Western Mystery Tradition, originating with the Rosicrucians and incorporating elements of the Kabbalah, alchemy, astrology and esoteric Christianity, among others. Each Rose Cross contains another Rose Cross at its center, symbolizing the microcosm that mirrors the macrocosm.

The Eye of Horus is a powerful symbol of protection, health and wisdom from ancient Egypt. It has its origins in the legendary battle between the gods Horus and Set, after which Horus' wounded left eye, symbolic of the moon, was magically restored by the god Thoth, providing a mythical explanation for the lunar phases. The Eye was even an ancient way of representing fractional numbers.

The lemniscate, an "eight on its side," is a symbol of infinity, eternity and the higher spiritual powers. Appropriately for a figure eight, it is linked to pre-creational infinity through the Ogdoad and to the cyclical sense of infinity through the eight pagan festivals of the year and the octagram.

The triquetra is a beautiful symbol of trinities encountered in Gothic and Celtic art. It is formed from three circular arcs of equal radius, often intersected or enclosed by a circle. Found primarily in Pagan and Christian contexts, it can also be used to represent a variety of three-fold systems.

The ichthys (Greek for fish) is a symbol most commonly associated with Christianity, and not only is it a rebus hiding a statement of Christian faith, but the era of Christianity has coincided with the Age of Pisces. The origins of the fish as a spiritual symbol predate Christianity, though, and the first avatara of the Hindu deity Vishnu was the great fish Matsya.

The Spiral is a common natural form and an ancient mystical symbol, occurring in shells, galaxies, DNA, whirlpools and countless other instances. In two dimensions, a spiral is a curve that winds around a fixed point at a continuously increasing or decreasing distance from that point, and esoterically it represents evolution, self-transformation and the forces and patterns underlying creation.